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By CINDA CHAVICH

(Athens, Greece) - With spring finally upon us and Easter waiting in the wings, there is hardly a better time to embrace a cleansing vegetarian diet.

This is the traditional season to give up meat, and while most Canadian Catholics have already completed their season of penitence, in the Greek Orthodox Church, Lent has just begun. A recent trek through this most ancient of civilizations left me with one lingering impression – the Greeks have raised vegetarian cooking to an art form.

Whether it was the flavorful mixture of wild winter greens and rice served by elderly nuns in a monastery in Kalamata, or a plate of buttery white beans in a savory tomato sauce at a lively taverna in Athens, the vegetarian dishes I sampled in Greece were plentiful and perfectly satisfying. In a strict religious culture which allows meat meals only about 76 days of the year, meatless must be made appetizing, and it is, with plenty of pungent wild herbs and peppery Greek olive oil.

This may, in part, be why Greeks are the poster children for the much-touted, healthy Mediterranean diet. Greeks have been widely studied by health professionals, searching for the holy grail of healthy eating. Greeks, with their reliance on olive oil and on-again, off-again vegetarian diet, have the lowest levels of heart disease and certain cancers among all Mediterranean people.

For Greeks and others who follow the Julian calendar, Easter falls on May 5 this year, so there are still several weeks of abstinence ahead for followers of the Orthodox faith. Their period of Lent lasts a full 40 days, and for that period Orthodox Greeks eschew all meat, eggs, and dairy products. Fish is still on the menu and Greeks consume it with gusto - octopus, squid and other fish, grilled, roasted or fried, always with plenty of local olive oil.

In Canada, the Greek community is large. Montreal and Toronto both have flourishing Greek communities, schools and Orthodox churches. At least 250,000 Canadians claim  Greek heritage.

And both here and abroad, Greeks take their fasting seriously. In addition to the 40 days of Lent, there are dozens of other religious days of abstinence. Many Greeks avoid meat and dairy every Wednesday and Friday, and there are other periods of fasting, including the first two weeks of August and the six weeks before Christmas.

And the Greeks are healthier for it despite a diet that often exceeds 40 percent of calories from fat – far higher than the current North American recommendation of 30 per cent.

The secret seems to be the kind of fat they consume. Traditionally, Greeks get most of that fat from extra virgin olive oil, and they drizzle and fry and roast a lot of beans, greens, eggplant, artichokes and other healthy vegetables in this healthy oil. Like North Americans, Greeks eat a fair amount of fat, but the fat is olive oil, high in monounsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants and Vitamin E, and extremely low in the saturates found in meat.

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, devised in 1993 after a conference of international experts on diet and health, is anchored by plant foods - bread, pasta, rice, grains, potatoes, fruits, beans, legumes, vegetables make up the entire bottom two-thirds of the triangle. Above that olive oil, cheese and yogurt are recommended daily, with fish, poultry, eggs and sweets suggested “a few times per week” and red meat “a few times per month or somewhat more in very small portions.”

This is a diet that’s uncommon in North America where meat is a mainstay. But Greek vegetarian cooking, with it’s use of olive oil in relatively high amounts, results in meals that taste rich and delicious, despite the absence of meat.

A typical Lenten lunch in a Greek home is as filling as any meat-and-potatoes meal here at home. Spring greens or chorta, gathered in the nearby mountains, are sauteed in olive oil and served in big bowls alone or mixed with rice or beans. Wild artichokes, trimmed of their spiky thorns, are stuffed with rice and pine nuts, or mixed with new potatoes and peas, then slowly roasted in olive oil. Big butter beans or gigantes, the size of your thumb, are tossed with parsley, onions, carrots and tomatoes, then heavily drizzled with olive oil and baked to creamy perfection. Greeks also make wonderful purees of lentils, chickpeas and eggplant, spreads that are seasoned with herbs and heavily laced with the peppery local olive oil.

It’s easy to make a meal of this kind of Greek mezedes – little plates of appetizers designed for sharing like tapas in tavernas, washed down with a simple local wine or a glass of milky ouzo.

Pies of crunchy homemade filo pastry, are filled with sauteed greens, wild fennel and feta. Fresh tomatoes are served with shards of salty cheese and black olives, dressed with more olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon. Heavy peasant bread, toasted over an open fire, is brushed heavily with olive oil and sprinkled with heady wild oregano, and thick sheep milk yogurt is mixed with lots of grated cucumber and garlic for tzatziki. Alongside are slabs of traditional Greek cheese, young mizithra and golden kasseri, sliced or fried in olive oil and drizzled with lemon. Even pastries and cookies  are made with olive oil.

The idea of fasting – eschewing the worldly, for the spiritual - is one that crosses many cultures. The Orthodox fast is not designed as a strict rule or a punishment to atone for sins, but rather as a goal for personal growth and as a practical time to prepare for future feasting. At a recent gathering of food professionals in Athens, Costas Carras addressed the topic of Religion and the Greek Diet. He said the fast days always come before the feast.

“The purpose of Lent is to see how high one can fly – to depend less on what is on the earth and more of what comes from God,” says Carras. “It’s part of the procedure of entering into a proper relationship with the natural world.”

While “health has nothing to do with it,” says Carras, Greeks have apparently gained more than spiritual benefits from their religious convictions. A vegetable-based diet that grew out of tradition and subsistence, turned out to offer a wonderful balance for good health.

When Lent ends, Greeks indulge in the biggest and best celebration of their year, Easter meals of roasted lamb and other meaty delicacies. But in the meantime, they embrace the season of cleansing with spring foods and songs that begin with words that many Canadians can relate to at this time of year:

“The most beautiful of seasons is at hand.”

click here for Greek vegetarian recipes...

(this story first appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2003

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